Drugs…The Next Great Divide

We are on the verge of a major change in the Canadian employee benefits insurance landscape.

Having survived the post-demutualization rounds of mergers and at least one near-failure in the not-too-distant past, there are now considerably fewer insurance companies in Canada, and fewer still in the group benefits area. In 1992, the top five life insurers in Canada had about 50 per cent of the total group life insurance business in the country. By 2011, the top five gathered 85 per cent of the market. Market concentration may be cost efficient, but not necessarily better for the consumer.